Where Ohio Stands on Online Education

Background

More than 30,000 Ohio students attend school entirely online in one of the state’s full-time online charter schools. Many more take classes online in traditional public and charter schools and a growing number are enrolled in schools that use a “blended learning” model that mixes online and classroom instruction.

These stories are the result of a reporting partnership between StateImpact Ohio and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. StateImpact reporters Molly Bloom and Ida Lieszkovszky teamed up with Plain Dealer reporter Patrick O’Donnell to examine online schools.

The 30,000-plus students enrolled in full-time online schools today is more than 12 times the number of students enrolled online in 2000, when Ohio’s first virtual school opened. And it makes Ohio a national leader: Only one state, Arizona, had more students enrolled full time in online schools in 2010-11.

Most Ohio students enrolled in full-time online schools, about 90 percent, attend one of the seven statewide online schools. The remainder are in digital academies that serve smaller areas.

As a group, those statewide online schools’ performance is generally comparable to Ohio’s “Big 8″ urban school districts. However, online-school students attend postsecondary education at much lower rates.

September 30, 2012

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